Dr. Nicole Charbonnet wishes she had a nickel for every time a patient told her they hate the invasive part of a gynecology appointment. At the Girls’ Night In presentation in the St. Charles Room Wednesday Sept. 24, Charbonnet reassured young women that gynecologists try not to start their appointments that way, and when patients “show up and get a pap smear, that’s half the battle.”
Charbonnet discussed women’s health issues including medical careers, gynecology appointments, women’s cancer prevention, sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer.
Charbonnet has been an obstetrician and gynecologist for three years for Ochsner Health System, which has recently replaced Louisiana State University Medical as the university’s healthcare provider. Prior to working for Ochsner, Charbonnet worked for a private practice.
One of the main components of Charbonnet’s presentation was promoting Gardasil, a human papillomavirus preventative medication that Charbonnet often gives to young women in her office.
“My office jokes that I have stock in the company,” she said. According to Charbonnet, 80 percent of women are infected with HPV at some point in their lives, making prevention and treatment of the disease important.
“We recommend vaccines, abstinence, condoms and that you take history from your partners,” Charbonnet said. She encouraged the audience to “tell your friends, tell your roommate, tell your sorority” about the vaccine.
She said being an OB-GYN is not like being any other surgeon.
“The baby’s doing great!” a man once shouted from his car window at a stoplight. “It makes you smile and makes you feel good,” she said of the rapport she builds with her patients and their families.
Alicia Bourque, director of Counseling and Health Services, said she “wanted to bring in experts in different fields to present health-related information to students.” With Student Health Services changing hands from LSU Medical to Ochsner, Bourque said there were a lot of complaints about women’s health issues not being addressed. As a result, Bourque said, “We definitely wanted to have (women’s health) as one of our primary focuses early in the semester.”
Fifty students were expected to come Wednesday, but only about 20 were present at Charbonnet’s presentation.
One student at Charbonnet’s presentation, Anne Longman, finance and economics senior, said she thought the presentation was interesting, but wished that more students had come to see it.
“I think it would have been a really good program for freshman, and I’m kind of disappointed that more people weren’t here,” Longman said. “It’s definitely valuable information. Especially when you think about how many people have STDs. . . if you’re on campus, you know what goes on. It’s just. . . people need to know this.”
Charbonnet said that she really enjoyed presenting at Loyola, but added that “it’s always hard getting numbers to these kinds of talks. My thing would be to order pizza. If you order free food, people show up. The trick is to get them here.”
Bourque said that upcoming events provided by Counseling and Health Services in order to provide more health education for students will focus on nutrition, hygiene, relaxation, allergies and asthma, and men’s health and sports.
Jessica Erwin can be reached at [email protected].
